Monday, May 8, 2017

For his live shows in 1970 and afterwards, Elton reworked this heavily orchestrated song for the three piece band, with remarkable effect.

As he said of the breakthrough shows at the Troubadour in LA: "We came on; I was in flying boots and hotpants and did Sixty Years On. They weren't expecting it. They thought it was going to be a low-key thing, because the music on the 'Elton John' album was very orchestral. But with a three-piece band, we went out and did the songs completely differently and just blew everyone away. We knew halfway through the show that we were on fire."

I created this clip having discovered it buried in a much longer documentary and thought it was worth creating as a stand-alone, since the performance is so rare. Over 50,000 views at the time of writing this.

For more on this period of Elton's career, visit: http://bangnzdrum.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/from-pinner-to-la-elton-johns-big.html